Spiraling whiteflies spreading north

Monday

Feb 11, 2013 at 5:57 PM

The rapid spread of the destructive spiraling whitefly has kept pest control experts hopping.

By J. DAVID McSWANE

Calls to exterminators to rid plants and landscaping of the pernicious spiraling whitefly are on the rise in Southwest Florida as the Caribbean pest migrates north after appearing in Miami three years ago.

The rapid spread of the rugose spiraling whitefly — and its destructive appetite for sucking juices from various tropical landscape plants — has kept pest control experts like Todd Miller busy this season.

"We've had a tremendous amount of calls," Miller, a supervisor for Fahey Pest Management, said. "Our inspectors are going out almost daily to whitefly calls."

He's seen clients throw out furniture ruined by the sticky dew that oozes from trees infested by the flies. It gets on cars and in pools. He's seen the dew mix with common sooty black mold, leaving driveways sticky and ugly.

"I've been on properties where it's been so bad, it almost looks like it's snowing — there's so many whiteflies," Miller said.

The pests are three times larger than the typical whiteflies that attack backyard vegetable gardens. They feast on gumbo limbo, coconut palms, avocado, calophyllum and black olive trees.

Miller said he's also seen them take a liking to bird of paradise and large banyan trees, typically in yards two to three miles from the coast.

Homeowners and landscapers are encouraged to call a pest control company if they see the bugs, named for the spiral pattern left when they lay their eggs under leaves, on coconuts and even walls.

But don't be quick to buy pesticide, plant experts say.

"I think it's important that people don't panic and go out and buy a bunch of pesticide and spray it all over," said Erin Alvarez, a Sarasota commercial horticulture expert working for the University of Florida.

UF researchers like Alvarez are looking for a natural predator to attack the bugs to avoid overuse of pesticide.

They're teaming with researchers at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

"As far as the state goes, this whitefly is confined for the most part to South Florida," said Greg Hodges, bureau chief for entomology, nematology and plant pathology at FDACS.

Large infestations can be treated with a pesticide injection that contains the infestation for up to a year, Miller said.

But a minor infestation is better treated by simply washing off the plant. Spraying pesticides on foliage will kill everything on the plant, experts warn, including beneficial insects.